co sponsored by:

Mark Kurlansky

Imagine a world without tuna, salmon, cod, or swordfish; oceans teeming with jelly fish and tinted orange from algal blooms; seabirds disappearing . . . then reptiles . . . then mammals. According to historian and master storyteller Mark Kurlansky - author of multiple best sellers including “Cod - A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World,” “Salt - A World History,” and “The Last Fish Tale: The Fate of the Atlantic and Survival in Gloucester” - this world might be closer than we think. In this wide-ranging talk, Kurlansky will examine the history of commercial seafood and describe how industrialized fishing and bottom-dragging nets are rapidly turning the ocean floor into a desert. Exploring the back-and-forth dynamic between fishermen and scientists, Kurlansky will try to answer one critical question, “How can the oceans survive all this?”

co sponsored by:

David Conover

Not so long ago, Americans lived in a world where food was grown in nearby fields, hunted in nearby woods, or fished in nearby rivers. Children played outdoors, and the organization of the natural world was fundamental to people’s understanding of what life is and could be. Emmy-nominated filmmaker (and former professional seaman) David Conover will explore the ramifications of America’s ongoing divorce from nature in this presentation which will include outtakes from his upcoming documentary, “Behold the Earth.” Central to Conover’s discussion will be the common cause between science and religion - two powerful forces that are oft en perceived to be at odds in their perceptions to the outdoors.